Chapter 317: Grade

Li Lieqi looked at the barbarian soldiers around her.

They wore animal hides, carried crude stone tools, large clubs, and simple armor, but their bodies were stronger and more robust than Li Qi’s soldiers.

Her focus was different from Li Qi’s; she didn’t care why there were so many Ninth Ranks in this world, nor was she bothered by the underlying reasons, so the first thing she asked about was the layout of this Grotto-Heaven.

From these people, she learned that this Grotto-Heaven was only about fifteen hundred li in circumference, quite small, with a total population of around two million, divided into two countries, North and South.

The Southern Country cultivated five grains and lived by farming.

The Northern Country herded cattle and sheep, living by hunting.

It really was… a classic, most classic setup.

If that were the case, then the subsequent events could naturally be guessed.

Raising supplies and preparing for war was the first lesson; the later lessons would definitely involve personally leading troops and attempting to apply the Military School of Thought methods in practice.

Li Qi’s perfunctory attitude just now made her very unhappy, and although she couldn’t hit him, she could subdue him in class.

If she could make Li Qi admire her, then when asking Imperial Academy’s Chancellor about preaching and imparting Dao, Li Qi would surely not prevaricate and give perfunctory answers.

Li Lieqi made this plan, and at the same time began to levy grain and fodder.

———

Almost at the same time, Li Qi also began his own levy work.

This was a test of overall planning and calculation ability; of course, it was impossible for Li Qi to collect it himself, otherwise, with such a short distance, he could just run around with a Mustard Seed Bag and solve it.

But that had no meaning; this was a test of overall planning ability, not a test of Divine Ability.

The manifestation of overall planning ability was to amplify all of this, expanding this Grotto-Heaven into an entire world cluster, with Li Qi having a group of Sixth Ranks capable of extraterrestrial travel under his command, and he could still produce the optimal solution without relying on Divine Ability.

This was also the most important ability of the Military School of Thought, and what the Human Dao was best at.

To command the masses, one didn’t need to be strong oneself, only capable enough.

A single person’s wisdom could not contend with Divine Ability.

But if the masses were united, Divine Ability, in most cases, could not contend with wisdom.

Furthermore, Li Qi vaguely realized that perhaps such overall planning ability was the very ‘Dao foundation’ of all official positions in the Human Dao.

Truly, the more he understood, the more he was astonished.

It’s hard to bear.

But he didn’t have to bear it himself; if the sky fell, Shaman God Mountain would hold it up.

He should first figure out the current situation.

Li Qi was very curious about the reason for such a high Ninth Rank rate.

And… what was the thing behind this Grotto-Heaven that could trigger True Knowledge Dao Resonance.

Originally, he just wanted to familiarize himself with the Military School of Thought methods, but these two things came up and attracted his attention; the subtle feeling from the Shaman made him feel that these two things would be of great use.

Then he had no choice but to continue attending class, striving to stay in this place a little longer.

The order for collection was then issued, layer upon layer.

At the same time, outside the Grotto-Heaven, the Youqi General, who served as the teacher, felt the results from different desks.

Each desk was a Grotto-Heaven, but basically all were identical, divided into North and South, used to help students practice methods of leading troops and overall planning.

The reason they were so similar was because this was originally one Grotto-Heaven that had simply been cut into so many pieces.

Everyone’s overall plan appeared in his mind.

A Fifth Rank’s mind could process an extremely large amount of data, even observing dozens of students’ arrangements for hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously was effortless.

“Hmm, these three people are interesting,” the Youqi General felt the arrangements of different individuals.

Then, he began to grade.

The first student, named Zhang Qi.

So far, he had arranged thirty thousand laborers, divided them into three thousand teams, planned detailed routes for them, separated them into different small teams, and transported just the right amount of supplies without disrupting civilian life.

Well done, B-minus.

He marked the score on the form.

As he was grading, some students who were auditing but not taking the class were also paying attention to the grading situation.

Every class at Imperial Academy had auditors.

Some were older students, usually waiting for acquaintances, or checking if they liked or were suited for the course.

Others were people who, though unable to pass the Imperial Academy entrance exam, had obtained auditing qualifications; for them, this was a rare opportunity, and even auditing was something they yearned for.

This class was no exception.

Seeing the Youqi General’s grading, the auditors below started whispering to each other.

“Such an arrangement is almost perfect, why only a B-minus?”

“Within an hour, he allocated different routes for thirty thousand people, and it didn’t burden the common people much, didn’t make one place bear too much baggage, and the route arrangements were also very reasonable, no detours, basically all the shortest routes… There should be no flaws to pick.”

Designing such a reasonable plan in less than an hour, and only getting a B-minus?

The auditing crowd was a bit confused.

Only the older students looked as if they were used to it.

But the Youqi General did not answer them, instead continuing to fill in the grades.

C-plus.

D-minus.

F-plus.

C-minus.

One grade after another was written, and the people below, who had initially been discussing, simply looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

Because…

Even what they considered perfect arrangements seemed insignificant in the eyes of this Youqi General; he had given thirty or forty scores in a row, and not a single A, the best being only a B-plus.

And the one who got the B-plus had already made them exclaim that such an operation was possible, that they couldn’t possibly have thought of playing it that way.

The person who received the B-plus, after meticulous calculation, spent half an hour teaching those aristocratic families how to array, and using his Yin and Yang Family method, he triggered an existing earth vein fissure, using a small force to move a great weight, collapsing a mountain range and connecting two large rivers.

Without any personal power involved, in half an hour, relying solely on the strength of these soldiers, he created a canal, tripling the efficiency of transporting supplies!

Yet, such an operation only got a B-plus?

Then what kind of person could get an A grade?

Grading continued, and the crowd already knew that those who didn’t get a C grade had been eliminated.

There would be no need for them to attend Military School of Thought classes afterward.

These auditors lamented the strictness of Imperial Academy, and at the same time, looked forward even more to the subsequent grading.

Who could get an A? What level of person could get an A?

After waiting a while longer, all the auditors raised their heads!

The first A was born!

They watched the teacher write the grade and name.

Li Lieqi, A-minus.

Upon seeing the grade, these people immediately went to see what this person had done.

The appearance of the first A made everyone, including the previously calm older students, all look up at how the A-minus graded new student had done it.

At Imperial Academy, anyone who could achieve an ‘A’ grade meant that their skill level had surpassed ninety-nine percent of people of the same rank!

And this was an A grade achieved by a new student, enough to astonish even these older students.

Everyone immediately used their Divine Abilities to enhance their eyesight and observational skills, to see what the new student named Li Lieqi had done.

Upon seeing it, everyone immediately felt immense admiration, each expressing their praise.

“There’s actually this option? This is truly… crude, yet unique,” someone commented.

“Truly impressive. Even if I knew this trick, I probably couldn’t learn it; this is something only she can accomplish, isn’t it?”

“This works too? Isn’t this cheating?!” another student exclaimed in disbelief.

Because, they saw… what Li Lieqi did was not ordinary material collection, but rather began to understand the situation, then deliver a speech, stirring up people’s hearts!

In the Grotto-Heaven she controlled, it was still divided into two countries, North and South, each with deep-seated enmity.

And as soon as she arrived, she first understood the specific situation, analyzed the combat power and consumption of the laborers and common people, and after drawing concrete and feasible conclusions, she immediately mounted her horse and delivered an inspiring speech!

Her valiant figure stood on horseback, shouting to all the people of the grassland with a resonant voice.

Calling them to plunder, to achieve success in one decisive battle.

Just as she had said before.

Farmers on fertile land harvest five grains according to the season.

Hunters on the grassland should harvest them according to the season!

Such a call was extremely inspiring, and coupled with her seemingly passionate personal charisma, wherever she went, the residents of the grassland became hot-blooded and followed her.

Soon, she directly gathered ten thousand regular soldiers instead of the promised five thousand, mobilized more laborers, interrupted production and daily life, and completely unleashed the Northern Country’s war potential.

While maintaining such a mobilization rate, she also maintained internal stability, arranging and deploying a sufficiently ample distribution system that was guaranteed not to collapse within two months.

It could only be described as very, very beautiful.

Although it could be considered an aggressive war policy, as long as there were sufficient external resources to supplement it, that is to say… being able to plunder the Southern Country, then everything would be worth it.

The Northern Country’s military strength that could be exerted now was probably more than twice that of the Southern Country.

Is this the strength of an ‘A grade’?

Truly an unreplicable strategy and overall planning ability.

Overall planning is not just about following steps, but about perfectly unleashing the power of the group.

The power of a group cannot form a combined force without overall planning, and that is what the Military School of Thought aims to do.

And Li Lieqi performed exceptionally well in this regard.

Admittedly, some would say that such an operation was a gamble, exactly like the prophecy of ‘victory in war but defeat for the nation’.

But in reality, those who understood the Military School of Thought knew that it was not like that at all.

Facing this question, an older student stepped forward to explain to the auditors: “Don’t think this is some kind of drinking poison to quench thirst; in reality, this move is very clever.”

Then, he began to explain in detail to the auditors.

This was not a case of victory in war but defeat for the nation; in fact, with Li Lieqi’s operation:

If they lost, it would be defeat in war and defeat for the nation.

If they won, it would be victory in war and victory for the nation.

If they won, they could even annex the Southern Country in one fell swoop, greatly increasing the Northern Country’s power and unifying this Grotto-Heaven.

Furthermore, looking at the current situation, Li Lieqi’s military strength and mobilizable combat power were twice that of the Southern Country, and she also had the advantage of morale, and it happened to be timed perfectly with the Southern Country preparing for its autumn harvest.

Everything was arranged so perfectly, the winning rate could be said to be skyrocketing; this was not a gamble at all, but a major counterattack launched at the opportune moment, the kind that was eighty percent likely to succeed.

The timing, the control of resources, and the most basic, those so-called ‘overall planning’ abilities.

Overall planning is not just about planning supplies.

People’s hearts, the collective will, are the most crucial part of overall planning.

After witnessing such an operation, and with the older students explaining beside them, everyone finally felt that this A-minus was well-deserved.

They couldn’t help but sigh that the gap was indeed significant.

The appearance of the first A made the auditing students feel admiration.

Imperial Academy truly had hidden talents.

However, before everyone’s surprise could subside, they suddenly heard the Youqi General let out an ‘Oh,’ and his expression also became surprised.

Then, he observed carefully, and then pondered for a few seconds.

Then, he continued to write the next grade:

Li Qi, A-mid.

A-mid?!

Everyone was shocked!

That A-minus just now was already astounding; what level was this A-mid?

So the surrounding crowd quickly sped up their note-taking, first recording the previous excellent answer, to ponder and analyze it later.

These were all places to learn from; wasn’t that what auditing was for? When they went out to stand on their own in the future, these experiences could be used as references, and might even save their lives.

After this was recorded, everyone gathered around again to observe the A-mid answer.

But upon seeing it, everyone was confused again.

The entire classroom fell silent, everyone looking at each other, all hesitating to speak.

“This… this can get an A-mid?”

“Impossible, wasn’t that B-plus operation much more spectacular than his? Just using array diagrams to stir up earth Qi, using a small force to move a great weight, in half an hour, without relying on any personal strength, purely relying on those soldiers forming arrays to create a simple canal, it was simply miraculous.”

“How was that A-minus just now not as good as him? He didn’t even manage people’s hearts; he just simply issued tasks, and these laborers had no morale at all!”

“Is this a mistake? I feel like this doesn’t deserve an A-mid. Senior, could you explain a bit?”

Some smart auditors had already gone to ask the older students nearby.

However, the older students hadn’t figured it out yet either.

Everyone was very confused.

Because, this person named Li Qi had no fancy operations at all.

His methods were basically the same as those who received C and D grades, not much different.

He just made ordinary arrangements for routes, split teams, went to different cities to collect military rations, coordinated supplies, arranged specific matters, and then ensured the army was well-fed and clothed.

At first glance, one could even say there were no operations at all, not even as good as the person who opened the canal; at least that one had ingenious ideas and did well in overall planning.

Everyone was bewildered.

However, just then, an older student suddenly said, “Wait, look, he expanded his army. How did he manage to support fifty percent more soldiers than others?”